Detecting anomalous citation groups in journal networks

Abstract The ever-increasing competitiveness in the academic publishing market incentivizes journal editors to pursue higher impact factors. This translates into journals becoming more selective, and, ultimately, into higher publication standards. However, the fixation on higher impact factors leads...

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Autores principales:	Sadamori Kojaku, Giacomo Livan, Naoki Masuda
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN
Publicado:	Nature Portfolio 2021
Materias:	Medicine R Science Q
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/8be535be27a84f85bc887527293eda2a
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spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:8be535be27a84f85bc887527293eda2a2021-12-02T16:08:06ZDetecting anomalous citation groups in journal networks10.1038/s41598-021-93572-32045-2322https://doaj.org/article/8be535be27a84f85bc887527293eda2a2021-07-01T00:00:00Zhttps://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-93572-3https://doaj.org/toc/2045-2322Abstract The ever-increasing competitiveness in the academic publishing market incentivizes journal editors to pursue higher impact factors. This translates into journals becoming more selective, and, ultimately, into higher publication standards. However, the fixation on higher impact factors leads some journals to artificially boost impact factors through the coordinated effort of a “citation cartel” of journals. “Citation cartel” behavior has become increasingly common in recent years, with several instances being reported. Here, we propose an algorithm—named CIDRE—to detect anomalous groups of journals that exchange citations at excessively high rates when compared against a null model that accounts for scientific communities and journal size. CIDRE detects more than half of the journals suspended from Journal Citation Reports due to anomalous citation behavior in the year of suspension or in advance. Furthermore, CIDRE detects many new anomalous groups, where the impact factors of the member journals are lifted substantially higher by the citations from other member journals. We describe a number of such examples in detail and discuss the implications of our findings with regard to the current academic climate.Sadamori KojakuGiacomo LivanNaoki MasudaNature PortfolioarticleMedicineRScienceQENScientific Reports, Vol 11, Iss 1, Pp 1-11 (2021)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN
topic	Medicine R Science Q
spellingShingle	Medicine R Science Q Sadamori Kojaku Giacomo Livan Naoki Masuda Detecting anomalous citation groups in journal networks
description	Abstract The ever-increasing competitiveness in the academic publishing market incentivizes journal editors to pursue higher impact factors. This translates into journals becoming more selective, and, ultimately, into higher publication standards. However, the fixation on higher impact factors leads some journals to artificially boost impact factors through the coordinated effort of a “citation cartel” of journals. “Citation cartel” behavior has become increasingly common in recent years, with several instances being reported. Here, we propose an algorithm—named CIDRE—to detect anomalous groups of journals that exchange citations at excessively high rates when compared against a null model that accounts for scientific communities and journal size. CIDRE detects more than half of the journals suspended from Journal Citation Reports due to anomalous citation behavior in the year of suspension or in advance. Furthermore, CIDRE detects many new anomalous groups, where the impact factors of the member journals are lifted substantially higher by the citations from other member journals. We describe a number of such examples in detail and discuss the implications of our findings with regard to the current academic climate.
format	article
author	Sadamori Kojaku Giacomo Livan Naoki Masuda
author_facet	Sadamori Kojaku Giacomo Livan Naoki Masuda
author_sort	Sadamori Kojaku
title	Detecting anomalous citation groups in journal networks
title_short	Detecting anomalous citation groups in journal networks
title_full	Detecting anomalous citation groups in journal networks
title_fullStr	Detecting anomalous citation groups in journal networks
title_full_unstemmed	Detecting anomalous citation groups in journal networks
title_sort	detecting anomalous citation groups in journal networks
publisher	Nature Portfolio
publishDate	2021
url	https://doaj.org/article/8be535be27a84f85bc887527293eda2a
work_keys_str_mv	AT sadamorikojaku detectinganomalouscitationgroupsinjournalnetworks AT giacomolivan detectinganomalouscitationgroupsinjournalnetworks AT naokimasuda detectinganomalouscitationgroupsinjournalnetworks
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Detecting anomalous citation groups in journal networks

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